That's about a third more than is typical for this event, which convention organizers take as an encouraging sign. The media types — mostly technical and operations specialists — are the advance teams for an expected 15,000 journalists expected to cover the convention.

Media companies will get a chance to see their space in the Times Forum and Tampa Convention Center, which will serve as the working hub for correspondents, plus meet with Bright House Networks, the convention's official provider of video, high-speed data and landline voice services.

"We're expecting folks from all across the country," as well as from Europe, Asia and Australia, convention spokeswoman Valentina Weis said. "This time what they get to do is see the space they'll be working from."

The convention is expected to draw 50,000 delegates, dignitaries, journalists, party staffers, corporate executives, lobbyists, demonstrators and others to the Tampa Bay area on Aug. 26-30.

Along with touring the convention site, the media advance teams also will talk with organizers about logistics, credentials, deposits and payment deadlines.

To create working space for broadcasters, an RNC contractor will convert the venue's luxury suites into mini TV studios, plus build some broadcast suites from scratch. Those conversions will entail unbolting the stadium seats and removing and storing the furniture and everything else, even the ceiling tiles. Then workers will cover the suites' floors with plywood and plastic sheeting and protect anything else, like cabinets, that cannot be moved.

The media companies will foot the bill for the work, with converted suites starting at $26,075 and going up to $34,360 for a double-wide. The fabricated suites will cost $19,912 each.

Want to book a stand-up broadcast position on the convention floor? Get ready to pay $7,872. How about a radio booth? That'll be $3,693.

That's just the space. There's also the cable and fiber optic connections — more than any event has ever used in Florida.

Bright House is expanding its fiber infrastructure around the convention campus and says it will guarantee sufficient bandwidth to meet what is expected to be a heavy demand. Its convention rates for dedicated Internet access range from $1,015 for a 10 megabit-per-second package to $37,500 for a 1 gigabit-per-second setup. Ethernet service at the convention will go from $3,500 to $5,100.

The company began taking orders Feb. 1, and so far it has heard from all the major players.

"Everything is on track," Bright House spokesman Joe Durkin said, "and we anticipate that the place will be ready to go."

PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made good on his promise to demolish his country’s nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions Thursday as a group of foreign journalists looked on. The explosi...

President Donald Trump’s decision to block his Twitter followers for their political views is a violation of the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying that Trump’s effort to silence his critics is not permissible under the U.S. Con...

TAMPA — All those public watch parties during the Tampa Bay Lightning’s postseason run? And how about the rally at Joe Chillura Courthouse Square Park with the big white Lightning logo spray-painted on the grass?
You need police to prote...

Explain this to me:
In the world of partisan politics, how is being an independent thinker a bad thing?
When it comes to general elections, we seem to like rogues and mavericks. We want outsiders and swamp scrubbers. Folks appreciate a good finger-...

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at "the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt," trashing a new report in the New York Times that said an emissary representing the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates offered help...

Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan pushed a radical idea on Twitter: Parents should pull their children out of school until elected officials pass stricter gun control laws.His tweet came hours after a shooting rampage at a Houston-area high scho...

WASHINGTON - China offered to boost its annual purchases of U.S. products by "at least $200 billion" Friday as two days of talks aimed at averting an open breach between the two countries ended in Washington, a top White House adviser said.Larry Kudl...

TAMPA — A concert organizer is accusing Hillsborough County Commission candidate Elvis Piggott of falsifying a contract and prompting the headline act to pull out of a gospel show.In a lawsuit filed in Hillsborough Circuit Court, Corey Curry claims h...

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Gina Haspel as the next CIA director after several Democrats were persuaded to support her despite lingering concerns about her role in the brutal interrogation of suspected terrorists captured after ...

WASHINGTON — Republicans are pushing for a speedy confirmation vote as early as Thursday after the Senate intelligence committee endorsed President Donald Trump’s CIA nominee Gina Haspel to lead the spy agency. But opponents concerned about Haspel’s ...